Veteran American diplomat taking lead role in new round of talks with Iran on security in Iraq

Sunday

May 27, 2007 at 12:17 PM

Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq has made a career of taking on difficult tasks.

Ryan Crocker helped set up Iraq's provisional government following Saddam Hussein's fall. In Afghanistan, he reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul after the Taliban's collapse in 2001 and led sensitive negotiations with Iran.

Crocker _ one of only a handful of U.S. diplomats who have held meetings with Iranians in the past quarter century _ is set to tackle yet another challenge Monday when he opens a groundbreaking round of high-stakes encounters with an envoy from Tehran.

This time, it's about the enormous complexities of trying to restore security to Iraq.

Though Crocker and analysts have played down expectations for the talks, many say the veteran U.S. diplomat brings the right measures of expertise and finesse to the potentially history-making, one-on-one diplomatic exchange.

The two nations have taken part in several international groups over the years _ and had clandestine ties during the infamous Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s _ but have had extremely limited bilateral contacts since Washington broke ties after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Crocker, who took over as ambassador in Iraq two months ago, has spent most of his 36-year diplomatic career in the field and might have more experience in the region than any active U.S. diplomat. He has worked in at least seven Middle Eastern countries as well as nearby Pakistan and Afghanistan, often during conflicts and crises.

Crocker reportedly warned then-Secretary of State Colin Powell before the 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppling Saddam would lift the lid on sectarian violence in Iraq.

"He's just very good at what he does and has risen to the top of his class in the foreign service based on competence and a willingness to go to very difficult and demanding places," said James Dobbins, a former top State Department official who is director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at Rand Corp.

Stories of Crocker's intensity, discipline and hunger for a challenge are legion among American diplomats.

Once, while traveling on a flight connecting through Iceland, he read a story in the airline magazine about a local marathon being run the next day. When the plane landed in Reykjavik, Crocker got off, changed his ticket and ran the race. Even now, 23 years later, he remembers his time: 3 hours, 18 minutes, 25 seconds.

So few were surprised when Crocker, who has been the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Lebanon, Kuwait and Syria, accepted the Baghdad post. Since his March 29 swearing in, the U.S. mission here has had to cope with a violent backlash to the Baghdad security crackdown, stalled political and economic reforms and stepped-up pressure in America for a U.S. troop pullout.

Crocker immediately met with every department in the vast mission to learn its function. He imposed order, structure and a regular routine on an embassy that had been run in a more free-flowing, improvisational style, said embassy staffers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about Crocker.

Still an avid runner at 57, Crocker quickly established a routine of his own, scheduling a weekly run of about six miles with Gen. David Petraeus, the senior American commander in Iraq, during which they discuss Iraq-related issues, said Col. Steven Boylan, an aide to the general.

In an indication of the high expectations on Crocker, some Arab journalists asked him soon after he arrived how long it would take him to fix the problems in Iraq _ a tenacious insurgency, sectarian violence and political fragmentation. He laughed and responded in fluent Arabic that he had been here only a week, and they should give him at least two.

"He will do his best to play a significant role in Iraq because he is aware that the failure of the Iraqi project will mean a big American failure," said Wael Abdul-Latif, a Shiite Muslim lawmaker and a former governing council member.

Salim Abdullah, a Sunni Arab lawmaker, praised Crocker's "vast knowledge" of Iraq. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh described him as methodical, professional and calm with a strong personality.

In his previous post in Islamabad, Crocker earned the admiration of Pakistani officials, who were under increasing criticism that they were failing to crack down on Taliban militants regrouping along the border with Afghanistan.

"He had a full understanding of the problems we were facing," said Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao. "I can't forget that when some U.S. officials and Kabul were criticizing Pakistan, he came out and gave us full public support. He helped us during the most difficult days."

In 2001, Crocker held quiet discussions with the Iranians to help ensure neighboring Afghanistan would remain stable after the overthrow of the Taliban regime. His Iranian counterparts have said he was very professional and earned their respect.

"He was the main channel with the Iranians on everything," said Dobbins, who briefly took over the talks from Crocker.

The new negotiations might be even more difficult.

There is great distrust between the two nations, which are now in dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Both sides said the talks will be narrowly focused on providing security to Iraq, but Iran and the United States can't even agree on the causes of the instability here.

The U.S. accuses Iran of arming and training Shiite militias in Iraq, which Iran denies. Iran says the presence of U.S. troops has stoked the insurgency.

During a March 10 conference in Baghdad, U.S. and Iranian envoys blamed each other for the country's crisis.

"He certainly has a good understanding of Iraq and Iran," said Dobbins. "On the other hand, he's not a policy maker and his Iranian opposite number (in the talks) is probably not a policy maker either, so I think one can have only limited expectations. Nevertheless, it's a start, and a long overdue start or at least a long overdue resumption of these discussions."

Crocker, too, tried to lower expectations.

"I would not expect stunning startling breakthroughs in an initial encounter," he told reporters last week. "We'll have a meeting. We'll see what we think of the discussion and decide on the next step from there."

"We've done this kind of thing before," he said, referring to his previous talks with Iran. "I think we kind of both understand what the parameters and indeed limitations are."

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